


an indirect kiss

by valety



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Crushes, Fluff, Kissing, Other, POV Second Person, Proposals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 06:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5573701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valety/pseuds/valety
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asriel and Chara get married because they'll go to jail if they don't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	an indirect kiss

**Author's Note:**

> this is too damn sappy, even by my standards
> 
> don't look, ma. don't look at your little boy

The first time you and Chara decide to get married, Chara is the one who proposes, more or less.

The two of you decide to play in the furthest possible corner of the garden so that you can pretend you're on some brave excursion to parts unknown, even if you _are_ still but a five minutes' walk from home. You bring your lunches with you - sandwiches, juice boxes, and a few of Chara's chocolate bars for dessert. You hadn't known that dessert could be a lunchtime thing, but Chara had taught you otherwise. They were _always_ teaching you new things. It was one of the things you liked best about them.

Then again, you liked _everything_ best about them.

You settle down in the grass at the foot of the tallest, oldest tree in the yard, the one with the scarred, gnarled trunk. It's probably your favourite spot. Whenever you're there with Chara, you can almost convince yourself that you're all alone in the world, hidden away from anything that could ever try and hurt or separate you.

Once you're comfortable, you start digging through your bags for food. You pass Chara a sandwich, but they ignore it, letting you drop it on the grass before them in favour of tearing the wrapper off a candy bar. You leave it be. "What do you want to do today?" you ask, punching a straw through the top of your juice box.

"We could go to the dump," they suggest, mouth full. "I think I finally got that old CD player to work. Now we just need to find better music."

You nod. That sounds pretty cool, although you'd admittedly forgotten about the CD player in question. They'd seemed so excited about it at the time, but you yourself had been way more excited about having gotten to spend an entire afternoon alone with them, even if it _had_ been in a garbage dump.

Your stomach is beginning to rumble, and so you set down your juice and reach for your sandwich. You begin to unwrap it, only to glance back up and see Chara reaching for your drink. "That's mine!" you cry.

For a moment, Chara freezes. Then, very deliberately, they pick up the juice box anyway.

Never once breaking eye contact, they bring it to their mouth and wrap their lips around the straw.

" _Chara!_ " you wail. "That's _gross!_ "

They smack their now-purple lips. "No grosser than anything else people do," they say with a smirk.

" _Nobody s_ hares drinks!"

"Yeah, but sometimes they kiss, and that's even grosser."

Now _that_ was just uncalled for. "It is _not,_ " you retort, lunging forward and snatching back the box. You accidentally squeeze it just a little bit too tightly, sending juice spurting everywhere.

"It is so," Chara replies.

"It is _not!_ Mom and dad kiss all the time and they're not _gross!_ "  _Nothing_  your parents do is gross. They're warm and fuzzy and good and you want to be just like them someday.

" _They're_ not gross," Chara agrees, shifting their position so that they're crossing their legs, propping their chin up with their hands. They're grinning as though they know a secret you don't know. " _Kissing_ is gross. It's all spit and tongue. Sharing a drink is nothing in comparison."

"Like you'd even know," you challenge, narrowing your eyes. " _You've_ never kissed anybody."

Had they? They'd have told you if they had, right? You would know something like that, something that important.

 _You'd_ tell _them_ if _you'd_ ever kissed anybody. Not that you ever have.

You frown, suddenly unhappy, but then your train of thought is interrupted by Chara leaning forward and grabbing you by the ears. They tug your face down close to theirs, planting their lips on yours with a noisy _smack,_  the sound even louder than the _smack_ they'd made after stealing your juice. You squeal and pull away and they release you with a smirk.

You wipe your mouth with your sleeve, heart pounding. Their lips had tasted faintly of grape juice and chocolate.

You try to think of something you can say, but words fail you and you can only stare.

Thankfully, Chara speaks first.

"There," they say, looking satisfied as they settle back down into their cross-legged position. Your heart does something funny then, like when you're walking down the stairs only to trip at the bottom and almost land flat on your face. "Now we've _both_ been kissed. Gross, right?"

"It wasn't  _that_ gross," you say without thinking. 

They raise their eyebrows at that, and you feel your cheeks grow warm. You let your eyes fall to the juice box in your hands. For a moment, you hesitate, but then you slowly bring it to your mouth, placing your lips around the straw.

It doesn't taste like anything in particular. Just juice. But Chara watches as you drink, a funny gleam in their eyes.

"We probably shouldn't have done that," they say after a minute or two. 

They have this new look in their eyes now, the one they get whenever they think they've had a particularly brilliant idea. You figure that you might as well play along. "Why not?" you ask.

"There are rules," Chara explains, breaking off a square of chocolate and popping it into their mouth. "I mean, why do you think you've only ever seen your mom and dad kissing?"

 _Had_ you only ever seen your mom and dad doing that? You frown. Now that you think about it, Chara might be right.

"Because they're married?" you guess. Nobody else you know is married, and as far as you know, those are the only kind of people who ever want to kiss each other. 

Chara beams at you as though you've given the best possible answer. "Exactly," they say with a firm nod. "Only married people are allowed to kiss."

"I've never heard that rule before," you say, a little doubtfully. You know that Chara lies sometimes, but usually their lies are fun, and so you tend to go along with them. But other times, they're trying to trick you, and you can't always tell which is which until they've already gotten you to do something silly. Still, what if they're right? It's not as though you'd know. And Chara's so smart. Chara knows  _everything._

"It's true," Chara insists as though reading your mind and seeing the doubts floating around in there. They're bouncing up and down a little now, grinning an enormous, toothy grin that seems to split their face in two. "You're only allowed to kiss if you're married. If anyone finds out, we'll get arrested."

"Huh?"

"It's okay, Asriel," they say, leaning forward and patting you on the knee. Their hand is covered in melted chocolate that clings to your jeans when they touch them. "I'll take responsibility. I'll keep you safe in jail."

"I can't go to _jail!_ " you shout. Your doubts are crumbling in the face of Chara's unwavering confidence. Even if they say they'll keep you safe, that probably just means threatening to stab people, and you really, _really_ don't want them stabbing anybody. 

"Then we'll just have to keep it a secret," Chara says with a shrug. They take another bite of chocolate, then add, "Or get married."

You blink.

Your heart does that funny skipping thing again. You think of Chara and their mouth on yours and the taste of grape juice and chocolate.

"We're just kids," you point out. "We can't get married."

What would being married even be like? You already live and play and sleep together. What else is left?

 _Kissing,_ your mind whispers. Warm and fuzzy and good. 

Your cheeks grow even hotter.

"Don't you know _any_ thing, Asriel?" Chara laughs. "Of course we can! I even know exactly how to do it. I learned on the surface. _Everyone_ had to learn."

Your hands are folded together in your lap, and you stare at your interlaced fingers, trying to imagine one of those hands belonging to somebody else. 

"Well," you say, a little haltingly, hoping that they can't see your blush. "I guess we should get married, then."

Chara chokes. 

Your head shoots up in alarm and you watch as they cough. "Are you okay?" you ask.

"Holy shit," they wheeze, pressing their hand to their chest. "Really? I was just...I mean, if you _wanted_ to..."

"We have to or we'll go to jail, right?" you prompt.

You think the jail part might have actually been one of their lies, but, well. What do you know?

You think about you, and Chara, and the way your mom and dad can be with each other sometimes, and of possibly having Chara kiss you again, and you think that you might be just a _tiny_ bit willing to play along with whatever it is they're trying to do right now.

"Yeah," Chara says. They're nodding now, head bobbing up and down so quickly that it sends their auburn hair flying. "We _have_ to get married."

"And you know what to do?" you ask, just to make sure.

"Of course," they say, and then they're grinning, once again adopting the confident, carefree attitude of one who's an expert on the subject. The subject being kissing, you suppose, but you should've guessed as much; Chara really _does_ know everything.

You offer them a tiny smile, and their face turns very, very red. They scowl at their chocolate, taking another furious bite right down the middle.

You watch the shape of their mouth as they chew, then take another sip of juice. You taste that sweet, artificial grape flavour and try to imagine there being an underlying hint of chocolate.

* * *

You go to your bedroom first because you have to get ready. You can't get married in grass-and-chocolate-stained jeans, after all.

"Are you sure this is right?" you ask. You have your bedsheets wrapped around you like a dress, letting them trail behind you in the way that Chara had assured you was the standard.

"It's perfect," Chara calls from the corner where they're pulling on your fanciest robes. They were the one who'd agreed to save you from jail, they'd pointed out, and so _they_ should be one who got to wear the actual robes while you were stuck with sheets. And, well, fair enough. You don't mind either way.

The two of you run back out into the yard, carrying as many stuffed animals as possible in your arms to be witnesses. You have to be quick, so that your mother doesn't see you and try to stop Chara from playing in your formal robes. Luckily, nobody notices, and so you're able to make it to your tree unscathed.

"Trust me, this is exactly how it's done," Chara says for the hundredth time in a row as the two of you are lining up your toys. The tallest one of all is placed at the base of the tree, propped up against a particularly thick root so that it may officiate the ceremony.

"How do we start?" you ask. You've never been to a wedding before, and so you can't say for sure if this is right or not, but you're basically just going along with Chara at this point. Anything they say is bound to be close enough.

"We need to go down the aisle together," they say, pointing down the middle. "And then we'll say our vows in front of the solemniser."

" _Solemniser?_ "

"Wedding person. Then we give each other rings and kiss, and then we'll be married. You can't back out now!" they add, fiercely. 

"We don't have any rings," you point out.

Their face falls. 

"I forgot," Chara says, staring at their feet. "Shit."

You can tell from the funny way they're holding their shoulders that they've gone all stiff and rigid, the way they sometimes do when they're upset. You need to think fast, before the game is ruined. But you're already in the corner of the garden, and so you scamper to the edge of the wall where the grass is longest, searching for the thickest blades you can.

You twist and knot the ones you find together into a pair of makeshift rings, then go to show them to Chara.

Their shoulders instantly loosen up upon seeing them. "Those'll work," they say, nodding in approval, and they snatch up the rings and shove them into their pockets. "Now come on, we have to do this properly."

They grab you by the wrist, then freeze as though they hadn't meant to do that. For a moment, they fumble, but then they finally manage to lace their fingers together with yours, looking so ferociously triumphant as they do so that you have to bite back the urge to sarcastically say _congratulations._

They lead you down the aisle of about five steps, only stopping before the toy that was chosen to officiate. An awkward silence falls over the two of you, and you stand, hand-in-clammy-hand, before an enormous stuffed rabbit.

Neither one of you seems entirely sure of what to do next. 

"We have to face each other," Chara declares at last.

They take you by the shoulders and you let them position you across from them. As they do so, you tilt your chin back slightly, looking them in the eye. Their face once again turns very, very red. You wonder how much redder it can even get at this point.

You're beginning to feel a little nervous.

 _This is just a game,_ you tell yourself.  _Chara's being silly, and I'm just playing along, because their games are always fun, and this is just a game._

Chara take your hands in theirs once more, clasping them between the two of you and pulling you towards them. Their mouth settles into a flat line, making their expression impossible to read. They look far more serious than you have ever seen them be before. It almost makes you feel a little scared, but it almost makes you feel a little excited, too.

"We have to do this right," they say, and for the first time, you wonder which one of you they're talking to. "So now we have to do the vows."

"Who goes first?" you ask, and your voice is definitely not shaking, not even a little bit. 

"You do," they instantly reply. 

You blink, then you take a deep breath. 

You remember their mouth on yours.

Your mother had once told you that kissing was something you only did with the people you liked more than anybody. You shouldn't kiss a person you didn't like, and _especially n_ ot a person who didn't like you back. That was probably why they had laws about it, if Chara was to be believed. And marriage was something even bigger - it was something you did with the person you liked best of all, the person you liked more than anyone else in the world. It was a promise that you would stay with them forever, or at least as long as they were your favourite and you were theirs.

If you had to marry _some_ one, then you'd want it to be Chara. 

"Chara," you tell them, squeezing their hands as firmly as you can, trying to ignoring how sweaty you've become. "I'm marrying you because we kissed and I don't want to go to jail. But I'm also marrying you because you're my favourite person in the whole wide world and I want to stay with you forever. Even if we hadn't kissed, I would probably still want to marry you, because you're my best friend and I think that's probably the best reason to marry somebody."

You punctuate your vows with a final squeeze of your hands. Your voice had gone all high and squeaky near the end, but you think you did all right. 

But Chara only stares at you. 

"Is something wrong?" you ask, a little nervously. "Did I say something dumb?"

"No," Chara quickly replies, shaking their head. "No, that was. Good."

They clear their throat, and somehow, their face manages to grow even redder. It's incredible, honestly. You think they might explode if they blush any harder than they're already doing. 

You wait patiently for them to speak. It takes quite a bit longer than you think is probably fair, but you don't want to rush them. You know they can be shy; even shyer than you, sometimes. 

"Asriel," Chara says at last, not quite meeting your eyes. "You're...my best friend too, I guess. And I think that staying with you forever would be...nice. If you really mean that. About. You know."

"I do!" you shout, then clamp your mouth shut as quickly as you can. You don't think you're supposed to interrupt them; if you do, it might not count, and you might have to do the whole thing over again. 

But Chara doesn't look angry. Instead, they begin to laugh.

"You said that part too early, dummy," they tease, and their lips curve into a smile that's infinitely kinder than any of the smiles you'd ever seen them wear before.

Then, they lean forward, pressing a soft kiss against your nose.

Fireworks go off inside of you. They make you want to shout and sing and faint all at once, and you wonder if this is something that will _always_ happen when Chara kisses you. 

When they finally pull back, they're still smiling that impossibly soft new smile of theirs, their ever-laughing eyes unusually gentle.

They let go of your hands, reaching into their pockets and drawing out the rings of woven grass.

They slide one onto your finger, then offer you a ring of your own to slide onto theirs in turn.

You do so.

They raise their hand to their eyes as though to admire it, and you follow suit. Already the grass is drying out. Soon it will be yellow. You wonder how long it will last.

Chara lowers their hand.

"I do, too," they say, and just like that, you're married.

* * *

The next time you and Chara decide to get married, _you_ are the one who proposes.

It happens many, many years later, long after the two of you had met Frisk and left the Underground together. You finally have the spiraling horns and golden mane of an adult, and you're so much taller than Chara that even _they_ can't call you a 'baby' anymore - not that logic had ever stopped them before. 

Chara has grown as well, having turned even longer and lankier over the years. They still have the most vicious grin you've ever seen, and the angles of their face remain just as sharp as ever - but they smile more, now, and that will always be what strikes you most, no matter how much time may pass.

They'd smiled _before,_ of course, but the smiles they'd worn back then had rarely reached their eyes in full. These days, their smiles are coming closer and closer to resembling the unbridled honesty of the one you'd seen back on the day of your childhood wedding, and you really, really hope that you will someday get to see them smile like that again. 

You hope that you will be the one to make them do it.

You think of the small black box in your pocket and gulp, trying to swallow down the sudden lump of anxiety burning in your throat. 

You'd been obsessing over the idea for weeks. Most of those weeks had been spent trying to come up with the perfect location, the perfect words, the perfect means, but nothing had seemed exactly right. After all, Chara would either say _yes_ or _no_ and nothing you could do would change that. If they didn't want to say yes, it's not like you'd be able to convince them, and if they _wanted_ to say yes, you doubted they would care how you asked. You could probably throw the box at their head and call them a buttface they'd throw it right back after slipping the ring onto their finger. 

In the end, you'd decided to simply  _do_ it, and so you've been carrying around that box for over a month, occasionally checking your pocket to see if it's still there, but never once pulling it out. Waiting for that perfect moment. 

When that perfect moment finally comes, it's not at all what you're expecting. It comes at 4:34 on a Tuesday afternoon in fall, when the sky is blazing red from the setting sun and the trees are little more than grasping skeletal hands.

The two of you are walking hand-in-hand, Chara talking loudly about their classes and their plans for the weekend, swinging the bag of last-minute groceries you'd picked up together; milk, bread, little things like that. And as you listen to them talking about books, and the colour of the leaves now blanketing the ground, watching them smile that almost-wholehearted smile of theirs, you find yourself thinking that there's nowhere else you'd rather be and no one else you'd rather be with. 

So you kiss them, cutting them off mid-sentence as you brush your mouth against theirs. 

"What the _hell?_ " Chara splutters, pulling away. "That was _rude._ I was in the middle of a story, _Ass_ -riel."

"Do you think we'll get in trouble now?" you ask, ignoring the insult, face still close to theirs.

Chara just looks baffled. "Trouble?" they repeat. "What are you talking about?" 

"We kissed, and we're not even married." 

Chara snorts. "We've done a hell of a lot more than - "

But then you press that small black box into their palm, and they trail off, sentence forgotten. 

"Don't worry," you say, and it's so, so hard not to chuckle at the confusion in their eyes. "I've got us covered." 

Chara doesn't move.

Then, slowly, they close their fingers around the box, accepting it.

They cradle it on their palm, eyeing it warily, as though afraid the contents may explode if handled incorrectly. 

"Christ," they say at last eyes widening. "I just remembered. When we were kids." 

They're shaking now, but you remain silent. You need to let them do this at their own pace; you don't want to scare them, not when they're already starting to resemble a nervous fawn on the verge of sprinting away forever.

That was probably kind of a weird thing to think.

You swallow yet again, watching as Chara clumsily pries open the box. 

The ring you chose is something simple - a flower on a thin gold band. A little corny, maybe, given Chara's love of flowers, but whatever. You like corniness, and you know that Chara does, too, even if they won't admit it.

"Better than woven grass, right?" you ask, keeping your voice as gentle as you can. 

But Chara keeps their head bowed, staring at the ring in the box.

There is a hiccup. When they lift their head again, you can see their eyes are shining. 

Your brain short-circuits. 

"Please don't cry!" you gasp, cupping their face with your hands, trying to channel as much comfort as you possibly can through your palms and into their heart, or soul, or whatever it is that's making them look so sad right now. "I'm sorry, Chara, I shouldn't have sprung this on you, I didn't..."

"Is this for real?" they say, voice thick. Their mouth trembles as they glare at you. "You're not just messing with me?" 

 _"No!"_ you shout, and then you wince; a little softer, you add, "I wouldn't do that, I swear. I'd never, ever do something like that to you."

Chara gives another angry, hiccuping sob. 

"You want me to _marry_ you?" they cry, sounding bewildered, as though still expecting you to burst out laughing and say _just kidding._

You nod. It's a weak nod. You're suddenly too ashamed to speak, because honestly, what were you _thinking,_ asking them something so important in such a casual, joking, out-of-the-blue way? No wonder they think you're messing with them,  _god,_ you're the worst, you - 

And Chara starts to laugh.

It's a wet, bubbling laugh, and they're still crying, but now they're smiling, too; that honest, brilliant smile that you always, always want to see them wearing, the one that let's you know they're really, truly happy. 

"Stupid," they gasp through their tears, wiping at their eyes with their palms. "Aren't we _already_ married?" 

You don't register the meaning of their words right away. 

But then you do, and you give a shout, throwing your arms around them, and they're laughing as they wrap their arms around you in turn. They feel so small, and yet they feel so _right_ against you, as though the hollow of your arms is precisely where they're meant to be, and you _squeeze_ as though you can somehow impress them against your soul forever.

You only let them go so that you can help them slide the ring onto their finger. It fits perfectly, just the way you'd known it would. They lift their hand to admire it and the ring gleams in the light of the setting sun. 

When you kiss them again this time, they don't taste like grape juice and they don't taste like chocolate, not in the way they once did. Their lips are actually a little dry, actually a little chapped, and honestly, they don't quite taste like anything at all, but kissing them is still just as sweet as you remember and sets off all those same fireworks that it always has.

The kiss ends, and Chara huffs a final, watery laugh before reaching up and running their calloused palm along your cheek. 

"Sucker," they say with something like affection. "I sure got you good that time, huh?" 

That part is debatable, you think, but, well. You're willing to play along. 


End file.
